Not a Boat
by takeawaltz
Summary: ONE SHOT. I wrote this last year,but was my idea of how 'Manhattan' could have gone. Some Neal monologue, but not very pro-Swanthief.


"No," Emma looks at him, unable to believe it's him, "Neal?"

"Emma," he smiles, surprised to see her, after all these years. She stands up, and looks at him without speaking. He continues, "I don't understand, what are you doing here?"

Emma looks at him, with too many emotions in her eyes. She moves closer to him, slaps him across the face, and says, "Bastard! I trusted you! And you set me up! You just needed me to take the fall for those damn watches. You selfish bastard!"

Taken aback by her words, Neal says, "Whoa, Emma, calm down."

"WHAT? You want me to 'calm down' after what you did to me?"

He sighs, "We need to talk."

* * *

"Now do you understand?"

Slowly, Emma says, "You left me because _Pinocchio_ told you to?!"

"It wasn't like that, Emma. I told you. You had a destiny. Now that's over, you know that now. I was in the way of that. I had to let you go," Neal says, trying to explain. He looks down, at his drink, trying to avoid her glance, "It was the right thing."

"To hell it was!" Emma glares at him. _Who does he think he is?_

"Emma," exasperated, Neal looks at her, willing her to listen to him, "Do you really think this was chance? Meeting you in that car, and then seeing you again today?"

"It doesn't matter. Goodbye."

* * *

"Mom!" Henry's face lights up, and Emma can't help but feel a little guilty. She had lied to him about Neal, thinking she would never see him again. She'd done that to protect him: the first person who had broken her walls since Neal forced her to put them up. For a second she considered telling him, but thought better of it as she had Mr. Gold standing right next to them, "Well? Emma, did you catch him, Baelfire?"

"No. He- he got away," she said solemnly, turning to face Gold, "I'm sorry. He'll be running to Texas by now."

"Sorry!" He said, accusingly, "You said that you could find my son, Miss Swan, but you couldn't. And you're SORRY?" Emma could sense that Gold was turning into him: the Dark One. She put herself in front of Henry, about to protect her son from his wrath.

"I told you. He got away. There's nothing to be done—"

"No! I waited three hundred years for this!" He yelled, and for a moment, Emma wasn't sure what would happen next. She stood her ground though, and waited.

Whatever she was waiting for, came as the door to the apartment building burst open, but was then slammed shut. Despite being unusually sunny outside, the face of the man who walked in was shadowed. Emma daren't move, but then she saw his silhouette: and he only had one hand. The other, was a hook. It was the Captain. Captain Hook.

"Go!" Emma said, her eyes widening. She knew why he was here: to kill his crocodile. He stepped forward, and she saw that one of his eyebrows was raised. Then his eyes narrowed and he didn't see her anymore. He raised his hook, and stabbed Rumpelstiltskin in the back, eliciting a very loud yell. The Dark One shrank to the floor, and all the rage he recently showed was gone. As Hook was about to deliver the final blow, Emma stopped him, saying, "He won't die. Hook, you can't kill him."

* * *

Meanwhile, after Emma had stormed away from him, Neal was climbing back up the fire escape. He wasn't sure if Emma had left Manhattan yet, but Neal knew that she was with his father. Once, a young Baelfire would have unquestionably went to his father, but that was over three hundred years ago. Despite being fourteen for a _very_ long time, Neal had grown up. He had given his father a chance, but the coward never took it, and for that, he chose his fate.

It was a good thing that Neal always left his window open, even if it was just out of habit. He climbed in, and then closed it without difficulty as it was beginning to drizzle, despite the sunshine. Sitting down on his bed, Neal couldn't remember being this conflicted in many a year. His phone went off, but he didn't hear it with his head in his hands. Days later, when he thought about it, did hear the downstairs door slam, and hear Emma shout. But today, he only heard the shout of his father.

Neal recognized his voice, and heard it through the pain. He had no love for that man, but there is a difference between running from him, and ignoring his pain. Grabbing his keys, Baelfire ran out of his apartment and down the stairs. He almost tripped coming down, as the steps were narrow. He swung open the gate and took in the scene before him.

His father was on the floor, leaning his back against the fence. Emma was nowhere in sight, but there was a young boy in the corner that looked an awful lot like her who was staring silently at Baelfire. "Bae?" said his father, looking sideways at his son. Neal could see relief and surprise in his eyes, but wasn't sure was his own eyes revealed.

"What happened to you? Who did this? Where's that girl, Emma?" Neal wasn't sure what Emma told him, but due to her reaction, he knew that Emma didn't tell Rumpelstiltskin about their history. It seemed to him that he wasn't a skeleton in just his father's closet, but in Emma's too. She was different then he remembered her – no longer naïve, and much more… defensive.

_How did I not see this? _He thought, _What my father did to me, I did to her. And it changed her. _This thought bothered him as Bae had tried not to repeat his father's actions. And not for the first time, he felt guilty. And maybe it was because he was.

* * *

Emma had to drag Hook away from Gold. She couldn't leave him alone, so she told Henry to watch him, but more importantly, she wanted Henry to be away from Hook.

"I understand the need for privacy you feel around me, but is this really necessary? Your boy, Henry, the one you fought for, is in there with him: the crocodile," Hook says, the second they're both outside.

"What the hell were you thinking? Did you really think that you could _sail _to Manhattan on the Jolly Roger, stab the Dark One, and get away with it? What did you expect when you came here? You knew that I was here, Hook, you should have figured out that I can't let this happen. I'm still the sheriff."

"Then I hope you enjoy handcuffing me and locking me up, love, because nothing, and I mean nothing, will save him from death," Hook says, adding, "Although I already know you like to keep my tied up. The tree, the beanstalk," he slows before saying, "the bed."

Hook was trying to distract her, Emma knew this. She rolled her eyes, though, and wondered if he should be on the street, wearing his pirate garb. "Why didn't you change clothes, Hook? Wearing this," She grabbed his poufy sleeve, "wasn't a good idea. You shouldn't be in public like this."

"Again, love, your need for privacy is understandable, but I thought that we weren't going anywhere?"

"We need to get back to Storybrooke. There's magic there; it's the only place that there's a chance of saving Gold."

"I told you," he said, leaning against the wall, "you can't cure him. I didn't just stab him, I poisoned him. There's no antidote, and even if there was, it sure as hell wouldn't help him here."

* * *

"Mom!" Henry sighs with extreme relief, and goes to hug her. She accepts it, but looks at Gold with his son and wonders; _does he realize that he's going to die? _And she knows the answer.

"The only way to save you is back in Storybrooke. There's magic there, but we have to take the Jolly Roger," she explains to Gold.

"Yes dearie, but who's going to sail that ship? Captain Hook?" Gold says with a hint of pain alongside his sarcasm.

"Yes."


End file.
